Foreign Data Wrappers

In 2003, a new specification called SQL/MED ("SQL Management of External Data") was added to the SQL standard. It is a standardized way of handling access to remote objects from SQL databases. In 2011, PostgreSQL 9.1 was released with read-only support of this standard, and in 2013 write support was added with PostgreSQL 9.3.

There are now a variety of Foreign Data Wrappers (FDW) available which enable PostgreSQL Server to different remote data stores, ranging from other SQL databases through to flat file. This page list some of the wrappers currently available. Another fdw list can be found at the PGXN website.

Please keep in mind that most of these wrappers are not officially supported by the PostgreSQL Global Development Group (PGDG) and that some of these projects are still in Beta version. Use carefully!